West Ham, who entertain Sunderland today having lost their last three Premier League games, are searching for a technical director who will be 'responsible for all matters below the first team' according to a senior club source.

Manager Alan Curbishley, who had been discussing the technical director's role with Eggert Magnusson before the former executive chairman stepped down, has agreed the final details of the new man's job description with Scott Duxbury, West Ham's chief executive.

The club have also consulted experts, including the Uefa technical director Andy Roxburgh, about the best profile for the role. The new man is likely to be foreign because the club want a multi...#8209;linguist with good contacts throughout Europe and especially in the east of the continent. He will not be responsible for transfers - nor should he hold ambitions to manage the first team - but is expected to take charge of West Ham's youth structure as well as looking for talent of all ages abroad. It is also understood that his duties will include responsibility for the club's medical policy becasue there are concerns over the nature of some of the injuries sustained by players.

As the club continue to overhaul their structure, there are also plans to increase, to 70,000, the capacity of the proposed new stadium at the Parcelforce site near Upton Park underground station. That is up by 10,000 on previous plans - though it could become irrelevant if West Ham are given the chance to move into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.

'There is still a chance of that happening because there is a split among the responsible authorities,' said an executive at the ODA, the body responsible for delivering the infrastructure of the London Games.

Mark Noble has taken over from Carlos Tevez as the hero of Upton Park, but the West Ham midfielder will not change his game with the extra responsibility it brings. Curbishley believes Noble played a huge part in the club avoiding relegation last season, even though it was Tevez who took most of the plaudits before leaving for Manchester United.

Noble would have stayed at his hometown club even if they had failed to complete their remarkable survival bid and his attitude and all-action performances have led to his shirt being the top seller in the club shop.

Noble acknowledges that his hero status means he has to set an example, although he cannot be restrained on the pitch. 'I do things now and then like tackles that can be late. I didn't mean for anything like that to happen, but I'm a 100 per cent player. If kids look up to me then so be it - but I'll be the same me forever.'

Sunderland midfielder Dickson Etuhu insists there is more to come from him as he attempts to make his wayin the Premier League. The 25-year-old, a £1.5million summer signing from Norwich, will hope to win back his place in the starting line-up after paying the price for a disciplinary ban. Before sitting out the 2-1 home defeat by Blackburn through suspension and then seeing replacement Liam Miller take his place for the 3-2 defeat at Arsenal last time out, Etuhu had started each of his club's eight matches.

Roy Keane has already ordered him to clean up his act after reaching the five-booking mark so quickly, but the Nigeria-born player admits he is on a steep learning curve generally. He said: 'It was hard watching the Blackburn game. But it was a good thing because I am still not myself yet - and actually watching the game made me realise there is a lot more I should be doing.'